Ford Focus Tyres

[B160 AVE]

Evening Chums

Just in the process of buying a 2004/54 Ford Focus 1.8TDCi 5 Door. It needs 4 new tyres and tracking etc
What does everyone recommend for this car? Looking for good all round use, but especially good wet weather grip.
Also it currently wears 195/60/15R V, I notice many others wear 195/55/15R V. Anyone know the difference and whether one size is better than the other?

Many thanks in advance
Dave

[Janesy B]

B160 AVE said:

Evening Chums

Just in the process of buying a 2004/54 Ford Focus 1.8TDCi 5 Door. It needs 4 new tyres and tracking etc
What does everyone recommend for this car? Looking for good all round use, but especially good wet weather grip.
Also it currently wears 195/60/15R V, I notice many others wear 195/55/15R V. Anyone know the difference and whether one size is better than the other?

Many thanks in advance
Dave

195/60/15 is the correct size, switching to 195/55/15 gives no real advantage and makes your speedo inaccurate.

[mgmrw2003]

Had 2006 focus 1600 tdci...... Ran it on PIRELLI for the first 25k, and MICHELLIN for the next 20k.

MICHELLIN better in wet. PIRELLI better in dry and squealed less. The MICHELLINs squealed like fk when being enthusiastic on a B-Road

[B160 AVE]

Many thanks chaps, look like 60 profile Michelins are the way forward then. It`s for the other half and she has Pirelli P6000s on her 206 at the moment and hates them!

[mgmrw2003]

MICHELLIN PRIMACY....... grip well, and even when I was "heavy footed as fk" (to quote my father) I could get 30k minimum out of them.

I had them on my ZR, Focus and now on the SAAB

[HellDiver]

Also consider the Uniroyal RainExpert. I'm running them on the front of the Mondeo, they're easily as good as the Bridgestones they replaced. Uniroyal are made by Continental, and specialise in wet weather tyres.

[Frik]

I found that Goodyear Eagles gave good performance wet and dry and lasted well too.

[neiljohnson]

195/55r15 tyres were fitted to the earlier Focus yours should be on the 60 profile.

If you want the best tyres then Michelin all the way although Dunlop or Goodyear are both good choices as are Bridgestones that will suit the car well.

Stay away from Pirelli they will wear unevenly on the rear on any Focus & then make a noise like the rear wheel bearings are falling apart!

[mgmrw2003]

Frik said:

I found that Goodyear Eagles gave good performance wet and dry and lasted well too.

Lasted? Really?

had them on the ZR and got about 6k for fronts, 11k on rears. Got them on beemer and they're showing signs of 7k all round. Pirelli's wern't a bad effort.

[B160 AVE]

Cheers chums, lots of good info here

[T84]

I used T1R's on mine, thought they were great, cheap from Camskill too.

[B160 AVE]

neiljohnson said:

195/55r15 tyres were fitted to the earlier Focus yours should be on the 60 profile.

If you want the best tyres then Michelin all the way although Dunlop or Goodyear are both good choices as are Bridgestones that will suit the car well.

Stay away from Pirelli they will wear unevenly on the rear on any Focus & then make a noise like the rear wheel bearings are falling apart!

Cheers Neil, it has indeed got 60 profiles, just happened to see a load with 55 profiles and got myself

[mgmrw2003]

HellDiver said:

Also consider the Uniroyal RainExpert. I'm running them on the front of the Mondeo, they're easily as good as the Bridgestones they replaced. Uniroyal are made by Continental, and specialise in wet weather tyres.

Got them on front of beemer now, not bad, but find that in the dry they understeer a lot compared to Eagles or Michellin.

Horses for courses aint it. If you want a good all rounder that will see 30-40k, personally michellin primacy would be the option. Pirelli 2nd.

Performence: eagles. Even when bald beyong legallity and nigh-on thread bare, they stuck like st to a blanket

[Frik]

mgmrw2003 said:

Lasted? Really?

had them on the ZR and got about 6k for fronts, 11k on rears. Got them on beemer and they're showing signs of 7k all round. Pirelli's wern't a bad effort.

I can't remember exactly how long the last set I had lasted but it was a lot longer than that. Getting on for 20k I think,

[mgmrw2003]

Frik said:

I can't remember exactly how long the last set I had lasted but it was a lot longer than that. Getting on for 20k I think,

Christ, you must drive like a saint. Mine were like chalk in acid rain..... Swear every time I looked at the car out the window I could see another couple of MM running off into the distance

[Frik]

Not really but the vast majority were motorway miles. I did them in less than a year too.

[mgmrw2003]

Frik said:

Not really but the vast majority were motorway miles. I did them in less than a year too.

I used to do around 30k a year in the zr, and was on 3sets a year for eagles, and budgets..... Primacy's lasted 18months.

Pirellis wernt bad on focus, but 38k in a year saw 2sets, conti's are like cheese on the saab.

So back to primacy's again

[icamm]

I've recently put Bridgestone A0001 all season tyres on my 2.0 TDCI (205/55/16) and am finding them excellent in wet and dry. Will have to wait and see how they perform in snow and to see how long they last.

They may not be quite as good as some of the others listed for ultimate dry grip but I'm happy with them and hope not to get snowed in next winter.

They are also pretty quiet. Almost no tyre noise at all.

Edited by icamm on Thursday 23 June 09:16

[B160 AVE]

Thanks again chaps, appreciate all the suggestions

[bradmoyle]

195/60/R15 82V is the correct size, running on 55s is your choice but your speedometer can be marginally effected. also you may experience difference in comfort in between sizes.

If you take all factors of a tyre into consideration ie:
Handling
Grip
Road noise
Wet handling
I would recommend Hankook K115's in this size.
extremely good value for money in this size around £50 per tyre depending on where you go,
my garage in Lowestoft offer an accidental damage warranty with this brand also.
in this size i would not go for michelin or Pirelli.